L 161 
.G8 CI 
1856 
Copy 1 



L 161 

I .G8 CI 

1 1856 \ 

Copy 1 \ . REPORT 



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Cflititnitlff of tjie €m\i nf §uim, 



APPOINTED IN NOVEMBER, 1855, TO CONSIDER 
THE EXPEDIENCY OF ESTABLISHING 



HIGH SCHOOL 



PKINTED BY THE ADTHORIIT OF THE TOWS. 



BOSTON: 

WILLIAM WHITE, PRINTER TO THE STATE. 
18 5 6. 



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GEO. S BOUTWELL, •) 

DAVID EOSDICK, Jb., 

S. C. WHEELER, 

WALTER SHATTUCK, 

P. G. PRESCOTT, . V Committee. 

H. P. ROSS, 

JOSIAH BIGELOW, 

WILLARD TORREY, 

CRAWFORD NIGHTINGALE, J 



HEPORT. 



The Committee appointed by the town in November, 1855, 
to consider the expediency of establishing a High School, 
have attended to tliat duty, and respectfully 

E E P O R T : 

The laws of the Commonwealth require every town con- 
taining five hundred families or hoiiseholders to maintain a 
school or schools, in which, in addition to the branches of 
learning usually taught, instruction shall be given by com- 
petent teachers, in the history of the United States, book- 
keeping, surveying, geomotry, and algebra. Such schools 
are to be kept for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the 
town, ten months at least in each year, exclusive of vaca- 
tions, under a penalty, in case of neglect, of forfeiting a sum 
equal to twice the highest sum which has ever before been 
voted for the support of schools. 

Groton now contains five hundred and seventy families ; 
and as these provisions of law arc consequently applicable 
to us, we might very properly refer to them as conclusive in 
regard to the duty of the town. 

But the law itself had its origin, no doubt, in wise and 
mature views of public policy. It is desirable to compre- 



hend the nature and value of these views, and there may 
be also special reasons why Groton should cheerfully and 
vigorously conform in her practice to the general policy of 
the State. The Massachusetts system of instruction rests 
upon the idea that the education of the whole people is a 
matter of public concern. It does not seem to be necessary 
to sustain this idea by argument ; but it may be well to re- 
mark, that there is no middle ground between the education 
of all and the neglect of all. No process of reasoning can 
prove that it is the duty of the public to educate a part of 
the children, while the education of another part, however 
unimportant in numbers, is neglected. The education of 
the people is a public duty in its full extent, or it is not a 
public duty at all. To what point this education is to be 
carried is not so easily ascertained, and great diiferences of 
opinion, no doubt, exist. It seems, however, safe to assume, 
that a system of public instruction should embrace those 
studies which furnish a fit preparation for the ordinary busi- 
ness of life. 

If the system be more limited than this, or if it shall con- 
template a result less elevated, we have a plan without a 
purpose, — a scheme merely, which looks to no definite end. 
Good farmers, good artisans, good citizens, are in every point 
of view public benefactors ; and why should not the public 
furnish the means of a thorough elementary instruction ? 

The welfare of society requires as much, at least, as this. 
All its pecuniary interests are intimately connected with the 
intelligence of the producing classes ; and learning yields 
blessings more desirable even than these, though not so 
readily appreciated by the ordinary standards of valuq. In- 
telligence aifords great security, — how much we cannot say, 
— for the principles of morality and religion. Intelligence 



is the product of education ; of the education of the school 
generally, though sometimes of the closet, the shop, or the 
world. Intelligent communities are usually prosperous, 
while general poverty is usually associated with general igno- 
rance. Every man has a special- interest in the results of 
his own industry ; but the interest of the public is liardly 
less important. The learned and wealthy cannot escape the 
influences of ignorance and poverty, any more than tlie rich 
and provident can avoid the calamities incident to a famine or 
a state of siege. Ignorance degrades all classes, — intelligence 
elevates all classes. The profits of the laborer, however 
humble he may be, are very much in proportion to his intel- 
ligence ; and the aggregate accumulations of a State or 
country are in exact ratio to the productiveness of its labor. 
Our view then is, that if we regard only the pecuniary in- 
terests of the public, they will be promoted by a liberal and 
elevated system of public instruction. 

In addition to the provisions of law to which we have re- 
ferred, towns containing four thousand inhabitants are 
required to employ a master, who shall be ccwupetent to in- 
struct in the Latin and Greek languages, general history, 
rhetoric, and logic. This provision indicates the limit to 
which our system of public instruction has been carried. 
It is not to be understood that we are required to go to this 
limit, unless the judgment of the town shall demand it ; but 
it may be well to show that if we do what we are by law 
required to do, we yet stop short of the grand result con- 
templated by the legislature. 

It is of course perceived, that the legal liability of the 
several towns of the Commonwealth is not the same, but is 
dependent upon their population. This could not be avoided ; 
but the fact that some towns are not required to support a 



High School, is no reason why those towns having the requi- 
site population, from which it is inferred that they have the 
requisite amount of wealth, should not cheerfully comply 
with the law. Nor does the exemption of the smaller towns 
from the duty affect in any degree the principle to which 
the larger towns are subject. The principle is, indeed, uni- 
versal ; its apiDlication is necessarily arbitrary. A town 
containing only a hundred families and a corresponding 
amount of property, can not, without great hardship, support 
a Latin school ; yet this fact furnishes no excuse for the in- 
difference or neglect of a town of four thousand inhabitants. 
Heretofore this town has been required to maintain primary 
or district schools only. This duty we have performed ; 
and now, in consequence of an increase in population, it is 
equally our duty to maintain a school of a higher order. 
Shall this duty be performed also ? It certainly ought to 
be, if the general policy of the State is based upon sound 
and sufficient reasons and principles, unless, indeed, some 
special cause can be suggested why this general policy 
should not be «.pplied to us. We know of no such cause. 
Education is as important to our sons and daughters as to 
the rising generation of other sections. 

We are as much interested as any in the intelligence, and 
prosperity, and honor of Massachusetts. On the other hand, 
there seem to be peculiar circumstances which should lead 
the citizens of Groton to establish and maintain a High 
School. 

Our public schools are not only defective, but they are 
relatively quite inferior to the schools of many, if not most 
of the towns of the Commonwealth. It may not be easy to 
specify all the causes which contribute to produce this infe- 
riority ; but there is one so prominent and so powerful that we 



feel called upon to mention it. We speak of the Academy. 
This institution is now more than half a century old, is lib- 
erally endowed, and it naturally exerts a decided influence 
upon the cause of education among us. Regarding the 
entire period of its existence, there is no doubt that its in- 
fluence has been beneficial ; and yet we are not prepared to 
admit that the Academy, as at present constituted, is fitted 
for the work which the public wish to have done. Some 
members of your Committee desired to effect a union by 
which the academy should, for all local purposes, become a 
High School. This subject has not been formally presented 
to the trustees ; but the views of individual members have 
been so far ascertained by conversation and correspondence, 
as to lead the Committee unanimously to the opinion, that 
the project for a union of the academy with the public 
system must be abandoned. It may be proper for us to say 
that the trustees entertain the hope of so elevating and 
changing the character of the Academy as to leave the field 
which properly belongs to a High School in a great degree, 
if not entirely, unoccupied. Under these circumstances it 
well becomes us to inquire whether things ought to remain 
as they are, or whether a High School should be established 
for the benefit of the whole population. To a limited por- 
tion of the people the Academy may be a substitute for a 
High School ; and this fact renders the establishment and 
maintenance of the latter a work of unusual difficulty. 

Indeed it is quite probable that had there been no means 
of education but such as our district schools furnish, the ac- 
tual existence of a High School would render tlie present 
consideration of its expediency unnecessary. 

Persons who have the means of educating their children 
at the Academy, however friendly they may be to the cause 



8 



of education, do not feel the necessity for elevating our pub- 
lic schools as they would were these schools their only hope. 
We do not mean to say that such persons are indifferent to 
the common welfare ; but all men naturally feel most sensi- 
bly the burdens ^hich they themselves bear. A child is 
sent to the district school for a few years, and then trans- 
ferred to the Academy. The burden may not be great, and 
the father may not even consider whether the same benefits 
are accessible to all, and if not, whether the system that he 
enjoys is not an exclusive system, and therefore totally 
inadequate to meet the wants of the people. And we may 
properly inquire, Would these parents be satisfied with the 
district schools as they are, were there no Academy ? We 
assume that they would not be satisfied, and that the influ- 
ence of this large class of citizens in behalf of general edu- 
cation is materially diminished. And is it not plain also, that 
the children of those who, from poverty or any other cause, 
fail to patronize the academy, suffer from the existing state 
of things ? And are not these individual and family losses 
the items which, in their aggregation, constitute a great pub- 
lic loss ? And do we not, in this state of sentiment, lose sight 
of the doctrine of equality as it ought everywhere to exist, 
and as it was most beautifully expressed upon the records of 
the town of Dorchester, in 1639, when the inhabitants de- 
clared " that the teacher should receive all who were sent 
unto him and give them equal instruction, whether they be 
the children of the rich or the children of the poor ?" This, 
indeed, is the true idea of a system of education ; and yet, 
it is an idea which, as a town, we have failed to realize. The 
cause of this failure is apparent. We need a High School 
which shall be as an Academy for all. Heaving such a High 
School, and admitting pupils only after a thorough and 



impartial examination, we should find that our system as a 
whole had been materially improved. 

Whoever looks at the High School with reference only to 
the character and amount of instruction given in it, fails to 
see the whole influence of the institution. If pupils are 
admitted to the High School when they arrive at a specified 
age, then indeed the progress made does not correspond to 
the effort ; but if the examination of which we have spoken 
is required, a strong motive is applied to the teachers and 
pupils, and to the friends of the teachers and pupils, in all 
the schools below. The object of the pupil is to qualify 
himself for the High School, and in this object he will bo 
aided and encouraged by his teachers and parents. As a 
consequence, we present new and higher motives in the 
primary and district schools, and with higher motives we 
secure better results. Now, however, the influence of the 
Academy is adverse to these ideas of elevation and progress. 
Pupils are there admitted upon a very slight examination, 
and often, as it is understood, without any examination at 
all. Of this we make no complaint, for the Academy is not 
a part of the public system, nor responsible to it ; and we only 
present the fact to show that the child in the district school 
has no motive to prepare for the change, inasmuch as the 
change is to come in the progress of time, as a matter of 
course, or it is not to come at all. In either case, we lose 
in our schools the animating influence of a motive which is 
all-powerful in the colleges, in the professions, and in the 
active pursuits of life. More than this. Pupils are often 
transferred without proper qualifications, and as a conse- 
quence, the district schools are weakened by the absence of 
those who ought to be in them, and the Academy is degraded . 
by the presence of pupils not qualified for the places they 



10 



Occupy. Another result of the operations of this inharmo- 
nious system is, that pupils fail to acquire the knowledge 
which ought to be given, and can only be given in the 
primary and district schools ; and then as a consequence, 
fail to realize and enjoy the advantages which the academy, 
under favorable circumstances, could easily confer. 

Nor is this all. Pupils, from the pressure of poverty, or 
from other circumstances, are sometimes kept in the district 
schools after their classmates and companions have been 
admitted to the academy. This distinction generally occurs' 
at a period when the youthful feelings are peculiarly sensi- 
tive, and impressions are sometimes made which remain 
through life. The true rule of the school requires a divis- 
ion of the pupils according to merit and attainments ; but 
with us they are separated by factitious circumstances. 
These remarks are not made because they are specially ap- 
plicable to this town ; but being applicable, they are of special 
importance to us. Nor would we be understood as inclined 
to complain of the existence or government of the Academy ; 
and we have alluded to it only for the purpose of showing 
that it does not secure the result which the friends of the 
public system seek. As citizens, we ought to favor the 
establishment of a High School, precisely as we should 
were there no endowed seminary among us, at which a part 
of the youth of the town may be educated. We seek an 
elevated system of public instruction ; and this we ought to 
secure without reference to the other educational advantages 
which exist among us. But is it possible to elevate our 
schools without some radical change ? 

The Academy, from the fact of its location, is connected 
with the public system, but yet is no part of it. Do we not, 
then, need a High School, as the complement of our 



11 

plan, which shall be valuable in itself, — giving equal instruc- 
tion with the Academy to all the youth of the town, and yet 
more valuable in its influence upon the primary and district 
schools ? And it seems necessary, if we establish a High 
School, to so endow it with teachers and apparatus as to 
satisfy every just expectation of the people. If we set up a 
school whose character does not answer to its name, it ^n\\ 
soon be found that we have burdened ourselves with taxes, 
and yet have accomplished nothing. The school should be 
so good that every parent and pupil in town will accept it 
according to its professions and claims. This being accom- 
plished, we have nothing to fear ; this being neglected, all 
our labor will have been in vain. 

But the expense of building a house, furnishing appara- 
tus, and supporting competent teachers, must not be over- 
looked. Education is expensive; expensive to the indi- 
vidual, — expensive to the community ; but it yields large 
returns. Massachusetts has been well remunerated for the 
cost of her educational system. 

Nor can it be said that it is the rich alone, or the poor 
alone, on whom the blessings of learning fall. It elevates, 
refines, protects, all classes. By the diffusion of knowledge, the 
luxuries of the last generation, enjoyed by the wealthy only, 
minister in this age, to the daily necessities, convenience and 
comfort of society generally. Learning equalizes the condition 
of men. Not, indeed, by making the rich poor, but by contin- 
ually improving the condition of those members of society 
who, if kept in ignorance, could hardly escape from pov- 
erty. Learning in itself, and in its connections with moral- 
ity and religion, promotes the public virtue. The man of 
wealth is eminently exposed to pecuniary loss from the con- 
duct of the vicious and criminal. Plis property is in a great 



12 



degree at the mercy of the community in which his lot is 
cast. But public virtue is a blessing to men of all condi- 
tions ; and it is better to secure it by general learning than 
to restrain and punish vice by penal codes and prisons. 
Indeed, codes and prisons are, at best, poor substitutes 
for schools, and we ought not, as a state or nation, to expect 
security for person and property while we withhold our con- 
tributions to the cause of learning. Public burdens cannot 
be avoided. If we will not found schools, employ teachers, 
and educate children in knowledge and virtue, we must at 
least build hospitals, asylums and prisons, and guard our- 
selves by laws and police against the crimes of degraded 
men. It is no doubt possible for one generation to relieve 
itself by laying a portion of its own proper burdens upon 
the future ; and though individuals may sometimes be suc- 
cessfully tempted to do this, the state, as a whole, or in its 
parts, ought never to yield. The individual, being mortal, 
may not personally suffer from the results of his own policy, 
manifested in the deterioration of public intelligence and 
virtue; but the state, as a whole, or in its parts, caunot 
thus escape, for it is immortal. But it is not by any means 
to be admitted that each generation does not secure for itself 
ample pecuniary returns for all its expenditures in the cause 
of learning. 

Assume that Massachusetts expends two millions annually 
for the support of schools, and imagine this appropriation 
neglected for thirty years, and a saving of sixty millions of 
dollars thereby effected, and is it not probable that this vast 
sum would be set off by the reduced value of real estate 
alone, to say nothing of the diminished productiveness of 
labor or the increase of pauperism and crime ? 

It cannot of course be asserted that the pecuniary returns 



13 



will be to every man in proportion to his contributions. 
This is not required by the recognized principles of taxa- 
tion. Such a doctrine Avould leave society without the 
means of providing for its own defence, and render it 
utterly incapable of progress. The right of taxation, as it 
exists in the power, depends upon the principle that in 
many instances the interest of the public is paramount to 
the interest of any individual. 

All are compelled to support carriage roads and bridges, 
though some may always travel on foot ; and the rich can- 
not escape the taxes which pauperism imposes, though they 
and theirs are free from want. It is both a duty and a 
virtue to aid the cause of education, though no specific, 
pecuniary return may come to us. As citizens, we continu- 
ally reap where we have not sown ; and it is our duty to 
transmit privileges and blessings to others, as some compen- 
sation for those which we, by inheritance, now enjoy. 

One great fact in the way of establishing a High School 
is the territorial extent of the town. It will be hardly prac- 
ticable for persons living in remote parts, — especially in the 
eastern and south-eastern districts, — to attend the High 
School, whatever its location may be. This is a misfortune, 
and beyond the reach of any remedy ; but the question 
returns, Shall the great majority of the town be deprived 
of the benefits of this system because they are compara- 
tively valueless to the minority ? 

If so, then indeed, upon the same principle, our present 
system is indefensible, being in some degree unequal. It 
appears, however, upon an examination, that the number of 
families to which the school would be inaccessible is not 
large. We assume that persons within two miles of the 
school are not at an imreasonable distance ; but in this 



14 



assumption we do not mean to admit that pupils might not, 
under some circumstances, travel two and a half or even three 
miles, for a portion of the year atleast. Thisis nowdone by the 
attendants upon the Academy. We assume further, that those 
who reside within half a mile of the depot at Groton Junction 
or of the depot at Babbitassett, will be reasonably accommo- 
dated, inasmuch as they may pass to and from these depots to 
the station at Groton Centre in a brief period of time, and at a 
small cost. Proceeding upon these assumptions, we find 
that three hundred and ninety-seven families will be within 
a reasonable distance of the school ; sixty-four families 
more will be between two and three miles from it, while one 
hundred and nine families only will remain who will be de- 
prived entirely of the direct benefits of the institution. We 
say that these latter will be deprived of the direct benefits 
of the High School, because we cannot admit that they will 
not enjoy, in common with their fellow-citizens generally, 
the advantages which will proceed from an improved system 
of public instruction. 

xind we say further, that justice seems to require, in case 
a High School shall be established, such a distribution of 
the school money among the several portions of the town as 
will secure to the remote sections an equality, so far as may 
foe, of educational privileges. 

It is not clear from the vote of the town, that the Com- 
mittee were charged with the duty of considering the plan 
or cost of a school-house, and they have therefore given but 
little attention to the subject. The inquiries that have been 
made justify the opinion that the sum of five thousand 
dollars will be ample. This sum, assessed upon property 
alone, will be equal to three dollars and sixty cents upon 
every thousand. 



15 

Of course, the cost of a building may in a great degree 
be controlled by the views of the town. Your Committee 
are of opinion that a house need not be expensive, as com- 
pared with many which have been erected in the State. It 
should be neat and tasteful in architectural appearance, 
sufficiently capacious, well ventilated, warmed, and furnished 
with seats and apparatus ; but it does not seem to be necessary 
to expend a large sum of money for the purchase of a site or 
in mere ornament. It should be accessible and convenient 
for educational purposes. These are the leading objects, and 
to them all others should conform. 

Under the circumstances and in view of the considera- 
tions which have been presented, your committee unani- 
mously recommend the establishment of a High School. 

For the Committee, 

GEO. S. BOUTWELL. 
Groton, March 3d, 1856. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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021 505 119 5 




